It Takes Two To Tango
by SyrupandHoneybuns
Summary: My take on how Aidan and Josh first met.


**Title: It Takes Two To Tango 1/1**  
><strong>Author: SyrupandHoneybuns<strong>  
><strong>Pairing: AidanJosh. **  
><strong>Rating: M<strong>  
><strong>Summary: My take on how Aidan and Josh first met.<strong>  
><strong>Warnings: Clumsiness and strong language. You have been warned.<strong>  
><strong>Being Human Kink meme<strong>

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><p>The soft patter of rain hitting Joshua Radcliff's bedroom window lures him into a faint sleep. He is about to snuggle deeper into the covers when a loud thump jolts him fully awake. He sits up abruptly, clutching a pillow to his chest. He silently listens, trying to find the source of the loud crashes. After a couple minutes of listening to his own shallow breathing and the rain, he flops back down on the bed and chuckles to himself. "It was just the wind," he mutters softly as his eyes begin to flutter shut again.<p>

_Thump!_

The second thump, even louder and more distinct than the first, has Josh scrambling out of bed in search of the metal baseball bat he keeps leaning against his dresser. He picks up the bat, which feels solid and lethal in his hands, and slowly inches toward his bedroom door to peer out into the solid darkness that adorns the second floor hallway.

Eerie shapes and shadows only serve to fuel his fear as he creeps down the hall. As he walks he can't quite shake the puzzling feeling of someone following him. He is halfway down the steps when the sound of footsteps steadily approaching and faint whispers makes his skin crawl and neck hairs bristle. Without looking he turns and swings the bat. It slices through her midsection as she materializes on the step above him. Her image distorts before bouncing back, like a static TV program before someone hits the side of the box to clear the screen.

"What the hell, Josh?" Sally yells, taking two steps back in shock from suddenly being hit with a bat. Not that it had hurt her, but more out of principle than anything.

"Oh my God, Sally, I'm so sorry, I thought –''

"Never mind what you thought, why are you running around the house at night with a baseball bat to begin with?" she demands as she floats down to the third step so they were level with each other.

"I think someone's trying to break in."

Sally rolls her eyes in exasperation. Before she can articulate a response, a sharp sound of wood crackling makes her gut clench in fear. Crossing her arms in front of her, she says, "It's probably just the pipe rattling. It's a very old house, Josh."

Relief breaks through Josh's fear. Of course it was the pipes, the building is very old. He suddenly feels very foolish for falling for the old ruse many first-time home buyers who live alone face. But his relief is short-lived. A loud bang, followed by a curse in a distinctly masculine voice, makes Josh grip the bat in his hand reassuringly.

"Josh, I-" Sally begins to whisper. Josh places his index finger to his lips in the universal gesture for quiet. Without thinking, he grabs her hands and walks the rest of the way down the steps into the living room.

He cringes on the last step when its squeaks. He can hear Sally faintly gasp from behind him and their clasped hands tighten around each other. They tip-toe to the window sill adjacent to the door. He peers out into the darkness. Even his werewolf sight isn't strong enough to pierce the utter and complete darkness. Sheets of rain pound down with such ferocity it makes him shiver.

But that isn't the only thing that makes him shiver. Squinting his eyes, Josh can make out a vague silhouette of a man standing on their doorstep, Josh catches a glimpse of something metallic in the intruder's hands, but the rain makes it hard to figure out what.

The intruder curses and shoves something silvery into his back pocket, then grabs the doorknob and begins to rattle it. Josh's heart pounds unsteadily in his chest. Sally quickly decides the bat might not be enough to fend the intruder off. Bless Josh's heart, but he is no fighter and whoever the man on the doorstep is it looks like he works out.

She looks around the room for something heavy she can throw. She spots a heavy brass lamp to her right and bends down ands unplugs the cord from the wall. "Move," she urges Josh, as she uses her ghost power to make the lamp float across the room to the window.

Josh catches on quickly and pushes the window up. Sally sucks in a determined breath and heaves the lamp through the window at the intruder. The racket that follows makes the prior curses and thumps seem more like child's play. Clearly, the lamp had hit its mark, but the intruder is mad as hell and very far away from being critically injured like Sally hoped.

An eerie silence descends on the apartment. Josh looks over at Sally, who is looking at him. "Do you think he went away?" she asks.

They get their answer when the front door is kicked in. Josh grabs Sally and presses them against the far wall, out of sight. No one comes in the threshold, but Josh can see a shadow lurking by the door.

Sally is first to act. "Who's out there?"

No one answers.

"Look, I know you're out there," she says. "If you leave now I won't call the cops." She speaks loudly, but a fine tremor had crept into her voice. Josh, out of the corner of his eye because there is no fucking way he is taking his eyes off the front door, looks dumbfounded at Sally. Like hell they weren't calling the cops, the guy just kicked in the door for God sakes, no telling what else he might do.

"I could ask you the same," a whiskey-smooth voice replies nonchalantly. Josh can see the shadow by the doorway shift and for a brief second he wonders if the intruder would step in but he doesn't.

"You don't seem to get it," Sally retorts in false bravery. The intruder's failure to, well, intrude gives her a burst of confidence. "If you don't leave we're calling the cops."

Her answer drew a hoot of disbelieving laughter. This was totally not the reaction she hoped for. "I am dialing 9-1-1 right now."

"Look, lady, you're the interloper here. Once I explain to the cops that I found two bums living in my vacant apartment, it's going to be your tushes that are going to be tossed in jail," Aidan declared. Josh frowns. Is this guy smoking crack? Just his luck, his apartment is being broken into by a pothead. The guy has the nerve to call them criminals. They aren't the ones kicking down doors in the middle of the night.

"Look, buddy, I think you have the wrong place. I've been renting this place out legally for about a month now," Josh says slowly, like he's talking to a child.

"No, this is the apartment the landlord showed me last month. 1031 East Pine Street is the address on the door. I'm in the right place, don't know about you."

"Who's the landlord then?" Josh challenged. The pothead's story sounded strangely similar to his. About a month ago when he was looking around for an apartment he could afford he found this two-bedroom condo for three hundred a month in the newspaper. Two days later he contacted the owner and set up an appointment and was shown this place by a man named Danny Burge.

"Danny Burge." Aidan sucks in an apparent painfully breath, then adds, "Look, as fun as it's been chatting with you, it's pouring down out here and if I don't get this cut patched up pretty soon I might bleed to death." Aidan clenches his jaw and prays that his lie would be believed. His vampire healing is already starting to close up the wound.

"Okay, you can come in but keep your hands where I can see them." Josh prides himself for keeping his voice steady despite his uneasiness about the whole situation.

Josh's gaze cuts through the shadows and locks on his well-worn black sneakers, then travels slowly up very long, muscular legs clad in black denim. A black v-neck t-shirt is tucked into a narrow waist and fitted snugly across a broad chest. A black leather jacket is draped over solid shoulders.

When Josh's gaze comes to the man's face, which has a fresh cut above the left eye, his mouth gapes in recognition.

"Aidan?" Josh gasps, stunned.

* * *

><p><strong>Author notes: I was watching this movie called <strong>It Takes Two To Tango and its about this solider that comes home to find a woman had broken into his apartment but she there legal because she rented it from the landlord. So basically I though this would be the perfect way for Aidan and Josh to meet.<strong>**


End file.
